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A powerful explosion can be seen erupting underneath the vehicle, creating huge amounts of smoke.The entire incident was filmed and posted on YouTube.

As the smoke disappears, the tank remains motionless and no members of the crew surface from the vehicle, so they are all feared dead.

Another tank in the convoy can be seen travelling towards it, no doubt to mount a rescue effort. But this is also soon targeted - it is unclear whether it hits a mine or is hit by a projectile.

The explosion doesn't appear to have caused any fatalities, as the vehicle continues to reverse.

Help: The tank involved in the blast doesn't move, leading to fears that all crew members were killed. Another tank moves close to it, no doubt to mount a rescue effort

Hit: The second tank is also targeted by what appears to be a projectile

Problems: It initially appears those inside the tank are not badly injured, as it begins to reverse following the attack

Horrific: But it is then hit by a second blast, creating a huge fireball

However, it is then targeted by what seems to be a projectile which causes an enormous explosion.

The chaos in Syria continued yesterday when the country's ambassador to Iraq defected in protest over President Assad's violent suppression following the 16-month uprising.

Nawah al-Fares said in a video statement posted on Facebook: 'I declare that I have joined, from this moment, the ranks of the revolution of the Syrian people,'

He did not elaborate or say from where he had posted the statement.

'I ask ... the members of the military to join the revolution and to defend the country and the citizens. Turn your guns toward the criminals from this regime,' Fares said.

'Every Syrian man has to join the revolution to remove this nightmare and this gang which has reeked corruption across Syria and destroyed the state and society over the last 40 years, and to guarantee a bright future for the coming generations.'

Fares, who has close ties to Syrian security, was the first senior diplomat to quit the embattled government.

Under pressure: Although there has been no official confirmation, the tanks are thought to be Syrian army vehicles, loyal to President Bashar al-Assad

He did not spell out his reasons for defecting, but repeatedly said government forces have been killing civilians.

There has been no comment from Damascus or Baghdad and the White House said it was unable to confirm the defection, hailed by Assad's opponents as a sign of crumbling support.

Assad's chief backer on the U.N. Security Council, Russia, remained firmly in the Syrian leader's camp. And the 15-member council made little headway after international mediator Kofi Annan asked it to agree on 'clear consequences' if the government or opposition fail to comply with his faltering plan for a political solution to the crisis.

Fares, a Sunni Muslim and who had held senior positions under the late president Hafez al-Assad, is from Deir al-Zor, the eastern city on the road to Iraq which has been the scene of a ferocious military onslaught by Assad's forces.

'This is just the beginning of a series of defections on the diplomatic level. We are in touch with several ambassadors,' said Mohamed Sermini, a member of the main opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Council.

The defection of Fares could be a major blow to Assad, who wants to convince a sceptical world he is conducting a legitimate defence of his country against foreign-backed armed groups bent on toppling the government.

The apparent crack in Assad's diplomatic ranks came as international diplomacy inched along, plagued by divisions over what the next steps should be to address Syria's crisis.

Annan, appointed mediator by the United Nations and the Arab League, briefed the Security Council by video link from Geneva on the results of this week's diplomatic shuttle to Damascus, Tehran and Baghdad - three capitals forming a Shi'ite Muslim axis of power in the Middle East.

Gone: The chaos in Syrian continued yesterday when the country's ambassador to Iraq, Nawah al-Fares, defected in protest over President Assad's violent suppression

The deeply divided council must decide the future of a U.N. observer mission in Syria, known as UNSMIS, before July 20 when its 90-day mandate expires. It initially approved 300 unarmed military observers to monitor an April 12 ceasefire, which failed to take hold, as part of Annan's peace plan.

'He (Annan) called for the Security Council members to put aside their national interests and to put joint and sustained pressure on both parties with clear consequences for non-compliance,' Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said.

Russia and China, both veto-wielding permanent council members, have for months blocked moves by western and Arab countries aimed at increasing the pressure on Assad, leaving the council deadlocked.

Anger: Demonstrators protest against President Bashar al-Assad in al-Midan district of Damascus recently

Grim: Smoke rises from Juret al-Shayah in Homs earlier this week following an attack

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The horror of war: Video captures the moment two Syrian army tanks are destroyed by rebel fighters in brutal ambush